London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

One of the capital’s most influential street artists, he told today how he faced death when living rough but turned his life around by becoming a cult figure in the art world.

His stick characters first began appearing in Hackney’s streets five years ago. Now an original canvas will sell for thousands.

Fiercely private about his identity — like fellow graffiti artist Banksy — he was living in a St Mungo’s hostel for the homeless last year as he prepared for his first gallery show. His biggest exhibition will take place at Imitate Modern in Marylebone this month. He said: “For a long time it was very difficult for me to nail down a home. You fall through the cracks and it’s tough to get back up. I did quite a few jobs. I was a bike mechanic and a street sweeper.

“St Mungo’s was a very important time for me. Up until then I had been sleeping in abandoned buildings, in friends’ houses or sofa surfing.

“Things got really bad and I resorted to desperate measures to make ends meet. My life was in danger and I had many experiences where I thought I was going to die. There is a lot of violence on the streets.” He would not say why he ended up homeless, but revealed he has lived in east London for 10 years and did not go to art college.

He already had a cult following when he got his big break last year. He was asked to provide artwork for music magazine Q’s awards. There he earned celebrity fans including Bono and May, opening the door to bigger shows.

He holds down prices at his exhibitions to stay accessible to fans, but an original canvas can fetch £5,000. Many pieces later appear on eBay for up to five times their sale value.

He still goes out twice a week to tidy up his work in the street. “I spend more time cleaning graffiti off my graffiti than I do actually making graffiti,” he said.

“Street art has taken us by storm. It is the biggest art movement in human history. It’s so instant and uncensored. It’s the new punk rock.”